It is known to apply Piezoelectric Balances as a means to monitoring change of mass of an electrode thereof, and thereby allow determination of an effective thickness of said electrode during processing that changes said electrode mass. Known relevant references are EP 0676637 and EP 2008067.
The 637 reference describes application of a Piezoelectric Balance Working Electrode in the context of an Electrochemical Cell. Changes in working electrode mass resulting from electrochemical processes in said Electrochemical Cell cause change in the vibrational frequence of the Piezoelectric Balance system, and said frequency changes can be interpreted to describe said working electrode mass change, and that allows determining electrode effective thickness. Said 637 reference, however, makes no mention of simultaneous use of an Ellipsometer system to then, knowing the effective thickness, arrive at uncorrelated optical constants. Additional known Patents and Published Applications are: U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,561,286; 4,735,081; 4,807,994; 5,373,359; 5,666,201; 5,706,212; 5,872,632; 5,963,327; 6,034,777; 6,125,687; 6,353,477; 6,456,376; 2004/0256961 and 2004/0257567. Known Articles are “Surface Specific Kinetics of Lipid Vesicle Adsorbtion Measured with a Quartz Balance”, Keller et al., Biophysical Journal, Vol. 75 (1998); “Simultaneous Monitoring of Protein Adsorbtion at Solid-Liquid Interface from Sessile Solution Droplets by Ellipsometry and Axisymetric Drop Shape Analysis by Profile”, Noordmans et al., Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces 15, (1999); and “Characterization of PNA and DNA Immobilization and SUubsequent Hybridization with DNA Using Acoustic Shear wave Attenuation Measurements”, Hook et al., Langmuir 17, (2001).
The 067 reference does describe simultaneous use of a Piezoelectric Balance comprising a working electrode, and Ellipsometer system, to arrive at uncorrelated effective thickness and optical constants of a mass on said working electrode which is disposed in a system cell that allows a fluid, (eg. analyte containing liquid), to access said electrode and, for instance, to enter thereinto and deposit analyte onto said working electrode.
Importantly, neither identified relevant reference suggests use of a working electrode that has a multiplicity of nanofibers projecting therefrom, at a normal or non-normal orientation to said working electrode. The presence of such normal or non-normal oriented nanofibers enables determining anisotropic properties, as indicated by the presence of Off-axis Elements in Jones or Mueller Matricies determined from data provided by a present Ellipsometer.
It is also noted that when working with biological samples repeatability can be a problem. That is, while two essentially identical samples can be prepared and subjected to what are identical processes, results often do not match one experiment to the next. A system and method or it's use that enables taking data that decouples optical constants and sample thickness, simultaneous with taking data that relates to sample changes to application of an electrochemical reaction driven voltage pattern, (eg. cycles to induce hysteresis loops), would therefore provide great utility.